The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, And Neuroscience

#PodcastersForJustice Mexican-American writer and historian, Isabel Cañas, spoke to me about how to binge-write a novel, her fear of the dark, and swinging for the fences with her gothic debut "The Hacienda." Isabel is a speculative fiction writer, and world traveler – currently working on her Ph.D. dissertation in medieval Islamic literature – who writes fiction inspired by her research and heritage. Her debut novel is the highly-anticipated gothic, The Hacienda, "... a haunted house story with a Latinx refresh .... partly inspired by a home Isabel lived in when she was a child — one she still believes to this day is haunted." Described by The Washington Post as, “[A] gothic tale of doomed love and vengeful spirits." NY Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi called the book, “A hypnotic, sinister tale that is equal parts terrifying and luxurious ... a nightmare lined with velvet.” In this file Isabel Cañas and I discussed: Writing fantasy fan fiction and her convoluted juvenilia  Why horror demands vulne